"The twenty-second session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22), the twelfth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 12), and the first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1) were held in Bab Ighli, Marrakech, Morocco from 7-18 November 2016.
The Conference successfully demonstrated to the world that the implementation of the Paris Agreement is underway and the constructive spirit of multilateral cooperation on climate change continues.
The decisions adopted by COP22/CMP12/CMA1 are listed here...

"Democracy Now! has long covered the issue of climate change. We reported from the U.N. Climate Change Conferences in Paris, Lima, Warsaw, Doha, Durban, Cancún, and Copenhagen, and from Bolivia’s World Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change.

"The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for the assessment of climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts. The UN General Assembly endorsed the action by WMO and UNEP in jointly establishing the IPCC.
The IPCC is a scientific body. It reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change. It does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters.
Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC on a voluntary basis. Review is an essential part of the IPCC process, to ensure an objective and complete assessment of current information. IPCC aims to reflect a range of views and expertise. The Secretariat coordinates all the IPCC work and liaises with Governments. It is supported by WMO and UNEP and hosted at WMO headquarters in Geneva.
The IPCC is an intergovernmental body. It is open to all member countries of the United Nations (UN) and WMO. Currently 195 countries are members of the IPCC. Governments participate in the review process and the plenary Sessions, where main decisions about the IPCC work programme are taken and reports are accepted, adopted and approved. The IPCC Bureau Members, including the Chair, are also elected during the plenary Sessions.
Because of its scientific and intergovernmental nature, the IPCC embodies a unique opportunity to provide rigorous and balanced scientific information to decision makers. By endorsing the IPCC reports, governments acknowledge the authority of their scientific content. The work of the organization is therefore policy-relevant and yet policy-neutral, never policy-prescriptive."

"... The Third World Network is an independent non-profit international network of organizations and individuals involved in issues relating to development, the Third World and North- South issues.
Its objectives are to conduct research on economic, social and environmental issues pertaining to the South; to publish books and magazines; to organize and participate in seminars; and to provide a platform representing broadly Southern interests and perspectives at international fora such as the UN conferences and processes.
Its recent and current activities include: the publication of the daily SUNS (South - North Develoment Monitor) bulletin from Geneva, Switzerland, the fortnightly Third World Economics and the monthly Third World Resurgence; the publication of Third World Network Features; the publication of books on environment and economic issues; the organizing of various seminars and workshops; and participation in international processes such as UNCED and the World Bank - NGO Committee..." Its online publications include extracts and compilations of • "Third World Resurgence";
• "Third World Economics";
• "TWN Features";
• Position Papers;
• Briefing Papers etc.

"2016 is shaping up as the hottest year on record. The first six months of the year were the hottest since records began in 1880, while the Artic has seen record low sea ice levels. As a result of the growing impacts of climate change, millions of people experiencing higher temperatures and extreme weather events such as droughts, heat waves, floods and storm surges, putting food and water security at risk, and threatening agricultural supply chains and many coastal cities.
The impacts and risks posed by climate change highlight the need for action to deliver on the Paris Agreement on climate change, reached in December 2015, to keep a global temperature rise this century below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. And with the world’s poorest people hit hardest by climate change, the case for action has been underscored by the Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by countries in September 2015, as well as the Financing for Development agenda and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
For the World Bank Group, with its goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity, climate change and poverty are inextricably linked. A Bank report, Shock Waves: Managing the Impact of Climate Change on Poverty, warned that without rapid action, climate change could push an additional 100 million people into poverty by 2030.
Delaying action would significantly increase the cost of keeping warming below 2 degrees Celsius – according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios, delaying action until 2030 would increase the costs of mitigating the impact of climate change by 50 percent.//"

"This report is an authoritative assessment of the science of climate change, with a focus on the United States. It represents the first of two volumes of the Fourth National Climate Assessment, mandated by the Global Change Research Act of 1990."

"This report is an authoritative assessment of the science of climate change, with a focus on the United States. It represents the first of two volumes of the Fourth National Climate Assessment, mandated by the Global Change Research Act of 1990."

"COP23 is the informal name for the 23rd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The UNFCCC was adopted in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, which marked the beginning of the international community’s first concerted effort to confront the problem of climate change. Known also as the Rio Convention, the UNFCCC established a framework for action to stabilise concentrations of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere. The UNFCCC entered into force in 1994, and nearly all of the world’s nations—a total of 195—have now signed on.
Each year the parties to the agreement convene to assess progress in implementing the convention and, more broadly, dealing with climate change. The first Conference of the Parties was held in Berlin in 1995. In 1997, the participants established the Kyoto Protocol, which included legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2005 the Conferences have carried another name: CMP. This stands for Conference of the Parties Serving as the Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, and so COP23 will also be known as CMP13.
At COP21, held in Paris in November-December 2015, the parties negotiated what is known as the Paris Agreement, which established specific actions and targets for reducing greenhouse gases emissions, mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change, and financing mitigation and adaptation efforts in developing countries. The agreement took effect nearly a year later. Signatory countries agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius and to make strong efforts to keep the rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Fiji is presiding over COP23 in Bonn with the support of the government of Germany. COP23 will take place in Bonn, Germany, from 6-17 November..."

"As a key input into the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), the U.S. Global Change
Research Program (USGCRP) oversaw the production of this special, stand-alone report of the
state
of science relating to climate change and its physical impacts.
This report is designed to be an authoritative assessment of the science of climate change, with a
focus on the United States, to serve as the foundation for efforts to assess climate-related risks
and inform decision-making about responses. In accordance with this purpose, it does not
include an assessment of literature on climate change mitigation, adaptation, economic valuation,
or societal responses, nor does it include policy recommendations.
The Climate Science Special Report (CSSR) serves several purposes for NCA4, including
providing 1) an updated detailed analysis of the findings of how climate change is affecting
weather and climate across the United States; 2) an executive summary that will be used as the
basis for the science summary of NCA4; and 3) foundational information and projections for
climate change, including extremes, to improve “end-to-end” consistency in sectoral, regional,
and resilience analyses for NCA4. As an assessment and analysis of the science, this report
provides important input to the development of NCA4 and its primary focus on the human
welfare, societal, economic and environmental elements of climate change..."

"A new NATO special report concludes that climate change is the ultimate “threat multiplier”—meaning that it can exacerbate political instability in the world’s most unstable regions—because by intensifying extreme weather events like droughts, climate change stresses food and water supplies. In poor, arid countries already facing shortages, this increased stress can lead to disputes and violent conflicts over scarce resources. As the report concludes:
“… food, water and climate are intimately connected with the sectors of economic development, demography, energy, ecosystems and urban planning—to name but a few interrelated sectors. The international community must improve the international food market to increase stability of prices and availability. Last but not least, the Parties who have ratified the 2015 Paris climate agreement must live up to their pledges, including on climate financing for developing countries.”..."

xtreme and unusual trends continue in 2017...
The year 2016 made history, with a record global temperature, exceptionally low sea ice, and unabated sea level rise and ocean heat, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Extreme weather and climate conditions have continued into 2017.
WMO issued its annual statement on the State of the Global Climate ahead of World Meteorological Day on 23 March. It is based on multiple international datasets maintained independently by global climate analysis centres and information submitted by dozens of WMO Members National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and Research Institutes and is an authoritative source of reference. Because the social and economic impacts of climate change have become so important, WMO partnered with other United Nations organizations for the first time this year to include information on these impacts.
“This report confirms that the year 2016 was the warmest on record – a remarkable 1.1 °C above the pre-industrial period, which is 0.06 °C above the previous record set in 2015. This increase in global temperature is consistent with other changes occurring in the climate system,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
“Globally averaged sea surface temperatures were also the warmest on record, global sea levels continued to rise, and Arctic sea-ice extent was well below average for most of the year,” he said.
“With levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere consistently breaking new records, the influence of human activities on the climate system has become more and more evident,” said Mr Taalas.
The increased power of computing tools and the availability of long term climate data have made it possible today, through attribution studies, to demonstrate clearly the existence of links between man-made climate change and many cases of high impact extreme events in particular heatwaves, he said..."

Executive summary:
"Warming continued in 2016, setting a new
temperature record of approximately 1.1 °C
above the pre-industrial period, and 0.06 °C
above the previous highest value set in 2015.
Carbon dioxide (CO
2
) reached new highs at
400.0 ± 0.1 ppm in the atmosphere at the end of
2015. Global sea-ice extent dropped more than
4 million km
2
below average – an unprecedented
anomaly – in November. Global sea levels rose
strongly during the 2015/2016 El Niño, with the
early 2016 values making new records.
The powerful 2015/2016 El Niño event exerted
a strong influence on the climate and societies
against a background of long-term climate
change. Severe droughts affected agriculture
and yield production in many parts of the world,
particularly in southern and eastern Africa
and parts of Central America, where several
million people experienced food insecurity
and hundreds of thousands were displaced
internally, according to reports from the World
Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) and the International Organization for
Migration (IOM).
Hurricane
Matthew
in the North Atlantic led to
the most damaging meteorological disaster,
with Haiti sustaining the heaviest casualties.
There were also major economic losses in the
United States and elsewhere in the region.
Flooding severely affected eastern and southern
Asia with hundreds of lives lost, hundreds of
thousands of people displaced and severe
economic damage. Wet conditions led to good
crop production in many parts of the Sahel,
with record yields reported in Mali, Niger and
Senegal.
1
Detection and attribution studies have demon
-
strated that human influence on the climate
has been a main driver behind the unequivocal
warming of the global climate system observed
since the 1950s, according to the Fifth Assess
-
ment Report of IPCC. Human influence has
also led to significant regional temperature
increases at the continental and subcontinental
levels. Shifts of the temperature distribution to
warmer regimes are expected to bring about
increases in the frequency and intensity of
extremely warm events."

"... In December 2015, representatives of governments, civil society organizations, Indigenous Peoples’ groups, and the private sector met in Paris for the 21st
Conference of Parties (COP 21) of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The aim of this meeting was to determine a global path forward that would limit the rise in global temperature to no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and allow countries to reach peak greenhouse gas emissions as soon
as possible.
With its recognition of the crucial role that forests play in achieving targeted emissions reductions, the Paris Agreement marks a major turning point in the global struggle to combat climate change. Yet, the final
Agreement lacks key considerations for the Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IP/LCs) who have customary rights to a large portion of the world’s remaining tropical forests, as well as millions of hectares of degraded forests that could capture additional carbon through restoration.
Although Indigenous Peoples and civil society groups from around the world advocated throughout the negotiation process that clear provisions securing IP/LC land tenure would be essential components of any successful and equitable climate agreement, text on the rights of IP/LCs
was limited to the preamble. Ultimately, the Paris Agreement failed to take into account the significance of community land rights and community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) for realizing its ambitious goals.
This brief presents a review of 161 Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted on behalf of 188 countries for COP 21 to determine the extent to which Parties made clear commitments to strengthen or expand the tenure and natural resource management rights of IP/LCs as part of their climate change mitigation plans or associated
adaptation actions.
Of the 161 INDCs submitted, 131 are from countries with tropical and subtropical forests..."

"The world has received the clearest message yet on how humans are changing the climate. Delegates from 195 countries gathered in Copenhagen this week to add their seal of approval to a 100-page "synthesis report". It's the final installment in a four-part series from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The synthesis report condenses the IPCC's three other major reports on different aspects of climate change into one concise document. While that means some parts of it may sound familiar, there are some new and different sections as well. Here's our assessment of what's new, as well as a look at the report's main conclusions...Warming continues unabated...A stronger message on human influence...Acidifying oceans, sea level rise and ice melt...Consequences of inaction...Counting the costs...What happens now?.....Today's report isn't a rulebook. It's designed to act as a guide for policymakers on how to avoid the most serious climate change risks, should we collectively decide that's worth doing. Where we go from here rests largely on what level of risk we're willing to expose ourselves to.
As today's report says:
"Decision making about climate change is influenced by how individuals and organizations perceive risks and uncertainties and take them into account."
However, the report does clearly and concisely lay out scientists' best understanding of the science of climate change, in a document that will be closely scrutinised by policymakers. However the politics of climate progress, there can be little doubt that a comprehensive assessment of the science on climate change is now firmly on the table...."

Introduction:
"The Synthesis Report (SYR) of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) provides an overview of the state
of knowledge concerning the science of climate change, emphasizing new results since the publication of the
IPCC Fourth Assessment Report in 2007 (AR4). The SYR synthesizes the main findings of the AR5 (IPCC)
based on contributions from Working Group I (The Physical Science Basis), Working Group II (Impacts,
Adaptation and Vulnerability), and Working Group III (Mitigation of Climate Change), plus two additional
IPCC reports (Special Report on Renewable Energy and Special
Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme
Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation).
The AR5 SYR is divided into four topics. Topic 1 (Observed changes and their causes) focuses on
observational evidence for a changing climate, the impacts caused by this change and the human
contributions to it. Topic 2 (Future climate changes, risks, and impacts) assesses projections of future climate
change and the resultant projected impacts and risks. Topic 3 (Future Pathways for Adaptation, Mitigation
and Sustainable Development) considers adaptation and mitigation as complementary strategies for reducing
and managing the risks of climate change. Topic 4 (Adaptation and mitigation) describes individual
adaptation and mitigation options and policy approac
hes. It also addresses
integrated responses that link
mitigation and adaptation with other societal objectives.
The challenge of understanding and managing risks and uncertainties are important themes in this report. See
Box 1 (‘Risk and the management of
an uncertain future’) and Box 2 (‘Sources and treatment of
uncertainty’).
This report includes information relevant to Article 2 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC)..."

"The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is set to publish the “synthesis report” of its fifth assessment period, drawing on three individual working group reports already published on: the physical science of climate change; climate impacts and adaptation; and mitigation, or how to reduce emissions or enhance the natural uptake of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The latest report is the first collective assessment of climate change by governments since the 2007 report, published just as the world fell off a financial and economic cliff. It is therefore a vital input to the current round of UN climate negotiations culminating in Paris next year..."

"The decision to prepare a Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) was taken by the members of the IPCC at its 28th Session (09-10 April 2008, Budapest, Hungary). Following the election of the new IPCC Bureau at the 29th Session of the IPCC (31 August - 04 September 2008, Geneva, Switzerland) and discussions about future IPCC activities at the 30th Session of the IPCC (21-23 April 2009, Antalya, Turkey), a Scoping Meeting was held (13-17 July 2009, Venice, Italy) to develop the scope and outline of the AR5. The resulting outlines for the three Working Group contributions to the AR5 were approved by the 31st Session of the IPCC in Bali (26-29 October 2009)."

"Just when no one needed more lousy news, the U.N.’s weather outfit, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), issued its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. It offered a shocking climate-change update: the concentrations of long-lasting greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) rose at a “record-shattering pace” from 2012 to 2013, including the largest increase in CO2 in 30 years -- and there was a nasty twist to this news that made it even grimmer. While such increases reflected the fact that we continue to extract and burn fossil fuels at staggering rates, something else seems to be happening as well. Both the oceans and terrestrial plant life act as carbon sinks; that is, they absorb significant amounts of the carbon dioxide we release and store it away. Unfortunately, both may be reaching limits of some sort and seem to be absorbing less. This is genuinely bad news if you’re thinking about the future warming of the planet. (As it happens, in the same period, according to the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, parts of the American public stopped absorbing information in no less striking fashion: the number of those who believe that global warming isn’t happening rose 7% to 23%.)..."

The State of Greenhouse Gases in the Atmosphere....."...the U.N.’s weather outfit, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), issued its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. It offered a shocking climate-change update: the concentrations of long-lasting greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) rose at a “record-shattering pace” from 2012 to 2013, including the largest increase in CO2 in 30 years -- and there was a nasty twist to this news that made it even grimmer. While such increases reflected the fact that we continue to extract and burn fossil fuels at staggering rates, something else seems to be happening as well. Both the oceans and terrestrial plant life act as carbon sinks; that is, they absorb significant amounts of the carbon dioxide we release and store it away. Unfortunately, both may be reaching limits of some sort and seem to be absorbing less. This is genuinely bad news if you’re thinking about the future warming of the planet..." (Tom Dispatch.com)

Key Messages:
• Significance of fisheries and aquaculture. Fish provide essential nutrition and income
to an ever-growing number of people around the world, especially where other food
and employment resources are limited. Many fishers and aquaculturists are poor and
ill-prepared to adapt to change, making them vulnerable to impacts on fish resources.
• Nature of the climate change threat. Fisheries and aquaculture are threatened by changes
in temperature and, in freshwater ecosystems, precipitation. Storms may become more
frequent and extreme, imperilling habitats, stocks, infrastructure and livelihoods.
• The need to adapt to climate change. Greater climate variability and ncertainty complicate
the task of identifying impact pathways and areas of vulnerability, requiring research to devise
and pursue coping strategies and improve the adaptability of fishers and aquaculturists.
• Strategies for coping with climate change. Fish can provide opportunities to adapt
to climate change by, for example, integrating aquaculture and agriculture, which can
help farmers cope with drought while boosting profits and household nutrition. Fisheries
management must move from seeking to maximize yield to increasing adaptive capacity.

"This Synthesis Report is based on the reports of the three Working Groups of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), including relevant Special Reports. It provides an integrated view of climate change as the final part of the IPCC’s
Fifth Assessment Report (AR5).
This summary follows the structure of the longer report which addresses the following topics: Observed changes and their
causes; Future climate change, risks and impacts; Future pathways for adaptation, mitigation and sustainable development;
Adaptation and mitigation..."

A Report for the World Bank
by the Potsdam Institute for
Climate Impact Research and
Climate Analytics....."This report spells out what the world would be like if it warmed by 4 degrees Celsius, which is what
scientists are nearly unanimously predicting by the end of the century, without serious policy changes.
The 4°C scenarios are devastating: the inundation of coastal cities; increasing risks for food production
potentially leading to higher malnutrition rates; many dry regions becoming dryer, wet regions wetter;
unprecedented heat waves in many regions, especially in the tropics; substantially exacerbated water
scarcity in many regions; increased frequency of high-intensity tropical cyclones; and irreversible loss of
biodiversity, including coral reef systems.
And most importantly, a 4°C world is so different from the current one that it comes with high uncertainty
and new risks that threaten our ability to anticipate and plan for future adaptation needs.
The lack of action on climate change not only risks putting prosperity out of reach of millions of people
in the developing world, it threatens to roll back decades of sustainable development..."

"Headed toward the danger zone
Human activity is warming the planet. For
the past millennium the Earth’s average
temperature varied within a range of less
than 0.7°C ... however,
man-made greenhouse gas emissions
have resulted in a dramatic increase in
the planet’s temperature over the past
century (shown in yellow). The projected
future increase over the next 100 years
(shown in red) due to growing emissions
could possibly warm the planet by 5°C
relative to the preindustrial period. Such
warming has never been experienced
by mankind and the resulting physical
impacts would severely limit develop-
ment. Only through immediate and
ambitious actions to curb greenhouse gas
emissions may dangerous warming be
avoided.
The evolution of the planet’s tempera-
ture for the past 1,000 years is based on
a range of proxy estimates (such as tree
ring analysis or ice core sampling) that
define the envelope of long-term temperature variation. With modern weather
observations starting in the nineteenth
century, global temperature could be
estimated more precisely; thermometer
data for the past 150 years or so docu-
ment a global temperature increase of
nearly 1°C since the preindustrial period.
Global climate models that estimate the
effect of different future emission scenarios on Earth’s climate predict a range
of possible global temperatures for this
century. These estimates show that even
the most aggressive mitigation efforts
may lead to warming of 2°C or more (a
level already considered dangerous), and
most models project that less mitigation
would lead to warming of 3°C or even
up to 5°C and beyond (though with less
certainty around these higher amounts of
warming)..."

Issued less than two years ago, the report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was a voluminous and impressive document. Yet key portions of the report are already out of date, as evidence shows the impacts of warming intensifying from the Arctic to Antarctica.
by michael d. lemonick

" The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which commits its Parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets.
Recognizing that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than 150 years of industrial activity, the Protocol places a heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities."
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. The detailed rules for the implementation of the Protocol were adopted at COP 7 in Marrakesh, Morocco, in 2001, and are referred to as the "Marrakesh Accords." Its first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012..."

"The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international environmental treaty negotiated at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992, then entered into force on 21 March 1994. The UNFCCC objective is to "stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system".[2] The framework set no binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual countries and contains no enforcement mechanisms. Instead, the framework outlines how specific international treaties (called "protocols" or "Agreements") may be negotiated to set binding limits on greenhouse gases..."(Wikipedia)

Lots of resources and links....."This portal aims to provide indigenous peoples and the general public with relevant information and resources on climate change and indigenous peoples, and on REDD+ or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation.
Specifically, this website will also serve as the portal for the project: "Ensuring the Effective Participation of Indigenous Peoples in Global and National REDD Processes."
The website is managed by Tebtebba (Indigenous Peoples' International Centre for Polcy Research and Education) and is made possible through the support of the Norwegian International Forest and Climate Initiative through the Norwegian Agency for Development and Cooperation (NORAD)..."